Events, Conferences, and Announcements for May 27, 2016

Announcements

Just in time for tick season, CDC has developed updated guidelines for healthcare providers, epidemiologists, and public health practitioners in the United States on the diagnosis, management, and prevention of tickborne rickettsial diseases. The updated guidelines include descriptions of the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, current methodologies for laboratory confirmation, and prevention practices. Guidelines have been expanded to include information on emerging tickborne rickettsial pathogens including Ehrlichia muris-like agent, Rickettsia parkeri, and Rickettsia sp. 364D and new research on the presumptive treatment of rickettsial diseases with the antibiotic doxycycline

Michelle Esquivel, MPH, the Director, National Center for Medical Home Implementation and the Director, of the AAP Division of Children with Special Needs, as well as Richard Antonelli, MD, MS, FAAP and the Director, National Center for Care Coordination Technical Assistance Medical Director for Integrated Care at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School released a letter this week regarding care coordination across the nation.

The goal of distributing the questionnaire was to elicit information that would contribute to an environmental scan under development by staff of the National Center for Care Coordination Technical Assistance, in partnership with the National Center for Medical Home Implementation in the AAP. The information collected was reviewed and data related to same were aggregated. Attached is a summary of the findings. If you would like to receive a more comprehensive report, contact Hannah Rosenberg by email or telephone (617-919-3627).

In addition, if you or members of your chapter would like to learn more about the activities and offerings of the National Center for Care Coordination Technical Assistance (NCCCTA)—including receiving technical assistance with tools and measures that support care coordination capacity building—visit the NCCCTA on the web.

On April 29, 2016, the Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ) was officially recognized as a national accrediting organization for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) that participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. IMQ understands the unique attributes of ambulatory care settings because most of the organization’s surveyors are actively practicing physicians. IMQ believes that its peer-to-peer methodology greatly increases the value of the accreditation process because IMQ surveyors understand how an ASC’s regulatory compliance activities directly impact patient outcomes. For more information contact Victoria Samper, MS at 415-882-5173 or vsamper@imq.org.

Publications

CMS released its May 19 issue of the MLN Connects E-Provider News. Among the posts in this offering were: The 2017 Medicare Shared Savings Program’s Notice of Intent to Apply Period Closes May 31; the SNF Value-based purchasing program; and the PQRS Experience Report. The May 26 edition features a reminder on PECOS for DMEPOS and a new educational web guides fast fact sheet.

KEPRO’s spring edition of Case Review Connections, a quarterly e-newsletter from the Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organization (BFCC-QIO) was released last week. The newsletter features a letter an story for Acute Care Providers and one for Post-Acute Care Providers.

RT Welter will join the WMS at Jackson Lake Lodge in June. In it’s latest newsletter, RT Welter writes about Comprehensive Payment Plans, and a new Inpatient Coding Calculator.

Providers’ Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies (PCSS-O) offers its weekly information update. This edition features a story on the FDA approving Probuphine, the first buprenorphine implant for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence and other stories.

Webinars/Events

Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital offers a Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Conference in Boston Sept. 26-27. Click here for more information.

Mountain Pacific Quality Health offers a series of HIPPA Privacy and Security Boot Camps. This full-day workshop on HIPAA privacy and security regulations and how to protect your practice will prepare you to protect your patients and practice from the financial and reputational harm of audits and breaches. HIPAA boot camp participants will feel more qualified to fulfill the role as your organization’s privacy and/or security officer. For more information, email Mark Norby (HealthInsight) or call 307.258.5322. Events are planned for June 14 (Ogden, UT); June 15 (Orem, UT), and June 16 (Murray, UT).

Providers’ Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies (PCSS-O) offers a webinar called Beyond Symptom Management: Mindfulness for Chronic Pain at 10 a.m. on June 1. This webinar will introduce a step-by-step, mind-body approach that integrates advances in rehabilitation medicine with psychodynamic, behavioral, and mindfulness-based techniques. Participants will learn tools to help patients interrupt the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of chronic pain cycles, using mindfulness practices to increase symptom tolerance, reduce pain-related anxiety, and engage more fully in life activities, reducing their dependence on analgesic medications.

Providers’ Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies (PCSS-O) offers an online module called, Opioid Use Disorders: The Female Experience. Important biopsychosocial gender differences exist which are important for risk factors for developing the disease, trajectory of the disease, and treatment planning, retention, and continued recovery. After completing this module, participants will be able to identify the changing demographics of heroin and opioid use disorders, discuss gender-related treatment issues including specific barriers to treatment for women and the impact of co-occurring disorders, and identify specific treatment concerns when treating pregnant women addicted to opioids.

Mountain-Pacific Quality Health offers an Accurate Blood Pressure Measurement Webinar at noon on May 31. Speakers include James Bennet, RPh, FACA, CDM, CDE, as well as Paige Reddan, MS, RD, CDE. To participate, click on https://qualitynet.webex.com, then locate the event and click on join now. Then, dial 1-866-612-6838 and enter the code 819845.

Zirmed offers a complimentary webinar called “Planning, Launching, and Advancing Your Analytics Program,” at Wednesday, June 8 from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. James E. Gaston, HIMSS Analytics’ Senior Director of Maturity Models, will explain what healthcare analytics is, how it matures in an organization, and how to empower data-driven decision making across departments and business units.

The 2016 AMA-OMSS Annual Meeting, which will be held June 9-11 in Chicago, will present a variety of unique and interactive opportunities for medical staff leaders to discuss emerging and ongoing issues of significant interest to organized medical staffs and their members. Join the discussion now by visiting the OMSS Online Member Forum.

The Clinical Directors Network (CDN) presents a webinar called Recommendation on Depression Screening for Children and Adolescents; United States Preventative Services Task Force. Headlining the event will be Alex H. Krist, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of Family Medicine and Population Health at Virginia Commonwealth; and Alex Kemper, MD, MPH, MS, a professor of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine. The webinar is June 2 and 10 a.m. Click here to register for the webcast.

Solicitation

Federal OSHA regulation Title 29, Part 1910.1200 has been amended to align with the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling (GHS) to ensure the provision of consistent hazard warning information to employees working with, in or around, hazardous materials (i.e. gas under pressure) and chemicals (i.e. specimen preservatives, lab materials). Employee training and written Hazard Communication Plan modification is mandatory by June 1, 2016.

Federal OSHA regulation Title 29, Part 1910.1030 requires that all employees who have potential for exposure to blood and blood borne pathogens (BBP) must receive training before they begin such work and, must be retrained annually if the practice is organized as a PA, LLP or LLC, OSHA considers doctors to be employees and they must also receive the required training. OSHA Medical Courses, LLC, is pleased to offer online training programs and compliance plans (easily downloaded and customized). Multiple individuals may conveniently view the programs simultaneously, but each must register individually to obtain a Certificate of Training. For more information, click here or email Don Berman at donbermanmd@gmail.com.